Melbourne victims in Barcelona terror attack: Bourke St hero in Spain

UPDATE: TWO Victorians caught up in the Barcelona terror attack are safely back at their hotel, the Premier has confirmed, as Melburnians in Spain tell of their holiday horror.

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A BRAVE firefighter who responded to the Bourke St massacre was among Australians to escape the horrific Barcelona terror attack.

Holidaying Aussies toldhow they feared for their lives as panic and confusion erupted in the popular tourist spot.

Two young men, believed to be from Melbourne’s west, miraculously received only minor injuries when the rogue van struck them.

Sydney resident Suria Intan was among two women from NSW who suffered serious injuries.

Ms Intan, a Commonwealth Bank employee, was last night in a serious but stable condition.

She had been due to return to Australia this weekend.

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MFB commander Graeme O’Sullivan and his wife, also an officer in the brigade, were at a restaurant bar when they heard “horrific screams” from those trying to escape the van.

“We heard this rumbling sound — then we heard a number of loud thuds and screaming which turned out to be the sound of people getting hit,’’ Mr O’Sullivan told the Herald Sun.

“We then heard a number of gunshots ring out. We could see a white van with heavy damage to the front.

“The front bumper was on the ground and people were running everywhere.

“There was a male victim laying on the ground who had obviously been hit by the van.

“Although this incident has links to terrorism and Bourke St does not, the results are the same.”

MFB Commander Graeme O'Sullivan with Acting Chief Officer Paul Stacchino. Commander O'Sullivan was a first responder during the Bourke St incident and was in Barcelona during the van terror attack.

At least 12 Australians were caught up in the horror. Pascoe Vale South woman Julia Monaco and Melbourne friends Julia Rocca and Alana Reader sheltered in a clothing store near where the van entered the tourist hotspot.

The women, all aged 26, lay on the ground for an agonising 20 minutes fearing a gunman was on the loose.

A mum, among about 100 others cowering inside, told her two young children they were merely playing hide and seek.

“I was too scared to look up because I wasn’t sure what I was going to see, ‘’ Ms Monaco said.

“People were screaming and crying — they were split up from their loved ones.

“It was confusion and it was fear and it was panic.

“You just didn’t know what was happening but we knew it was serious.”

Emergency workers come to the aid of victims. Picture: Getty

Melbourne friends Julia Rocca, Alana Reader, Julia Monaco were caught up in the Barcelona terror attack. Picture: SUPPLIED

The holidaying sales executive — just months earlier caught up in the London Bridge terror attack and another in Paris when a hammer-wielding man attacked a police officer — initially thought there had been a car accident.

“We started to notice a couple of people walking away from the street towards the shop who looked quite distressed crying and holding each other,’’ Ms Monaco said.

“In one second it all just changed and the whole group — everything we were watching — everyone just turned and started running, running for their lives.

Friends Julia Rocca, Steph Lamb, Julia Monaco and Alana Reader on holiday. Picture: Facebook.

“People were screaming and trying to get into the store.

“They were yelling instructions which we could kind of make out to move away from the windows and to get down low on the floor.

“Everyone just genuinely looked terrified.”

Melbourne-based cyber safety expert Susan McLean was about 100m from Las Ramblas as the van hurtled through the crowd at an estimated 80kmh.

The aftermath of the attack in Barcelona. Picture: Getty

Victims are helped by first responders. Picture: AP

She became separated from husband Ross as they took refuge in a shop.

“All of a sudden there was this tidal wave of people coming around the corner — screaming, crying, hysterically running,’’ Ms McLean said.

“The looks on the faces of the people running towards us just reminded me so much of when I saw the CCTV footage of people fleeing Bourke St.

“We just said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here’. Someone was yelling, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot!’, so we thought perhaps there was a gunman.

“My immediate instinct was terrorist. I didn’t think anything other than terrorism.”

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